Talk:Here Is Your Life

Hayeste (talk) 22:31, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

General proposed changes for course assignment
1. Add a detailed plot. 2. Add a historical context section. 3. Contribute to the references. 4. Add a few more important characters to the cast list (Olivia, Niklas, Maria, Fredrik).

Plot outline
I. Scene with a bird flying, characteristic music. Olof Persson starts taking jobs when his father becomes ill.
 * A. Moves into a cabin with a group of men.
 * B. Starts working as a log driver.
 * C. Meets August, an older log driver, who speaks to Olof about death.
 * 1. Flashback tale in color.
 * 2. Woman chasing her children, never reaches them.
 * E. Various jobs, stacking bricks, searching for things in the ground (unsure).
 * F. Finds a dead moth and pretends that it is alive, flies it through the air.

II. After Olof's father dies, Olof takes a job at a sawmill.
 * A. One fellow sawmill worker speaks about a woman travelling first class in need of a man. She gives a lower class American man whatever he wants as long as he will sleep with her.
 * B. After this story, the worker says, "Maybe we should check Olof out," and multiple workers then harass Olof.
 * C. Olof only works outside of the mill, picking up and moving the logs along with a boy named Oskar.
 * D. Oskar is injured in an accident where a log falls on him; he later dies in the hospital.
 * E. Olof asks for a higher position at the mill, but he is denied.
 * F. Starts reading novels and books of philosophy.
 * G. Acts out and quits the sawmill job.

III. Olof takes a job at a cinema selling candy.
 * A. Meets his first love, Maria.
 * B. Makes a friend named Fredrik, they discuss philosophy and women together.
 * C. Olof visits home; mother asks a lot of questions.
 * D. After an accident with the candy selling, Olof asks for a new job.
 * E. Olof starts working on tour with a projectionist, Mr. Larsson.
 * F. Olof is introduced to Olivia, the queen of a travelling shooting gallery in the circus.

IV. In between touring, Olof works for a blacksmith.
 * A. Meets Maja, the blachsmith's daughter, and sleeps with her in the field, she cries afterward.
 * B. Olof starts going to communist meetings; writes poetry.
 * C. When he goes back to work for the cinema, his boss gets mad that he was handing out "socialist rags." Olof quits.

V. Olof goes back on tour with the circus.
 * A. He works for Olivia.
 * B. In a relationship with Olivia; sleeping and working together.
 * C. Olof goes home in between jobs. He goes to communist meetings and dances.

VI. Starts working for the railroad company. (cleaning? power company? unsure)
 * A. Works with a man named Niklas; they have similar opinions about capitalism. Niklas shouts, "Damn capitalist rot!"
 * B. Proclaim outright socialist opinion to boss, Byberg.
 * C. Spare food for hoboes on the train.
 * D. Niklas and Olof prank Byberg.
 * E. Lead communist meetings.
 * F. At a party gets very drunk, throws up and falls down.
 * G. Back with the cinema, Olivia gives a final speech of sorts to Olof about giving up and the hardships of life.
 * H. The scene with the bird flying is repeated.

VII. Olof goes to his stepmother before travelling.
 * A. He finally buys a hat that he had been admiring earlier in the film.
 * B. Stepmother bundles Olof up for the cold.
 * C. In the final scene, Olof walks along railroad tracks in heavy snow, onto whatever is next.

(Need to add information about characters and actors, age changes). Hayeste (talk) 01:25, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Historical context
An overview of 1960's Sweden and how this influenced the portrayal of the Great War and Sweden's Second Industrial Revolution in Here's Your Life. I plan to focus primarily on Sweden's neutrality during the Cold War, and how this relates to their economic involvement in the Great War. I also want to discuss the working class throughout the 20th century and tendencies towards democratic socialism. Here are the main resources I will use:

I. Background
 * A. Growth and hardship of working class Sweden.
 * B. Interview with the director, Jan Troell, about Swedes and their struggle for a better life. (need to fix this reference)
 * C. Sweden and welfare state.

II. Cold War and neutrality
 * A. The Cold War and considering neutrality of the past (especially during the Great War).
 * B. Effects of Cold War neutrality.
 * C. The "third way," "Swedish model," and "armed isolation."

III. US Review
 * A. New York Times response to the film in 1968.

Hayeste (talk) 00:57, 7 July 2015 (UTC)